An essential part of our five-step HRIS Strengthening Process is to support managers and decision makers to effectively use and analyze data in order to make informed decisions about their health workforce. A new Capacity Project Voices article about Data-Driven Decision-Making (DDDM) was recently finalized last week and posted to the Project’s website here.
The article, “Drawing on Data: Effective Decision-Making for the Health Workforce,” is based on interviews with participants from the Capacity Project’s first two DDDM workshops. The pilot workshop was held in Uganda in June 2007 and another workshop was held in Swaziland in February 2008. HRIS team members helped plan and facilitate the workshops, and also conducted the interviews and helped draft the article. A third DDDM workshop is scheduled for September in Rwanda. HRIS team members are currently working with local Capacity Project Rwanda staff to secure a venue and plan the agenda.
You can read more about our HRIS Strengthening Process and DDDM here.
On a related note, the Capacity Project is in the process of finalizing a technical brief about data quality. We are very excited about this product and will post a blog announcing its release as soon as it’s finalized.
Southern Sudan is taking important first steps toward the national implementation of iHRIS Manage, the Capacity Project’s human resources (HR) management software. The software will be installed in HR offices in Central Equatoria, Western Bahr al Ghazal and Upper Nile in the upcoming weeks. In preparation, HR officers and HR information systems point persons from each of the three states attended a three-day training session on the system and learned how to enter data and produce reports.
To ensure full participation in country-wide implementation, the Project also held a workshop for 21 directors and director generals from all ten states and the central government, along with representatives from WHO and the International Organization for Migration. Participants reviewed data flow, and used their own health workforce data (collected with support from the Project earlier this year) to practice using data for decision making. An important outcome of this workshop was the decision to create a data collection tool and training materials to assist county health officers in supervising data collection at the health facilities. These tools will help to improve data quality and also build local capacity for sustaining the software.
On June 4 the Capacity Project and Ministry of Health (MOH) facilitated a Technical Working Group (TWG) workshop to review progress and next steps on Kenya’s human resources information system (HRIS). The TWG coordinates the functions of the HRIS and consists of members of a larger HRIS stakeholder leadership group (SLG).
The meeting began with an update from local software developers who recently customized the Project’s HRIS software to meet specific needs in Kenya. Initially the HRIS is being populated with Capacity Project data on the Emergency Hiring Plan. Following a software demonstration, the TWG began drafting a list of HR policy and management questions. Dr. Pamela McQuide presented an overview of the Project’s HRIS strengthening approach and led a session introducing concepts of using data for decision making, emphasizing data quality and presentation. Monica Mburugu, TWG Chair and Chief HR Director at the MOH, expressed that she is very pleased with progress to date.
Several follow up meetings were scheduled, including the next TWG meeting, a larger SLG meeting and a Data for Decision Making workshop. The local developers shared the modified code with Dr. McQuide. Capacity Project developers are currently reviewing the code and hope to post it soon.